Laundry machine



Feb. 5, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1945' FEGJE M Fem: [er

M. BEUCLER Feb. 5, 1952 LAUNDRY MACHINE 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Nov. 15', 1945 Patented Feb. 5,. I952 LAUNDRY MACHINE Marcel Beucler, Paris, France Application November 15, 1945, Serial No. 628,863 In France September 14, .1944

Section 1, PublicLaw 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires September 14, 1964 5 Claims.

My invention has for its object a novel laundry machine adapted to' wash, rinse, wring and dry the clothing. In contradistinction with the machines nowadays in use wherein the clothing is submitted to a reciprocating rotary movement, said machine performs the above mentioned operations solely under the action of centrifugal force as generated by a continuous rotary movement in a given direction of the clothing containing vat or receiver, the washing operation being executed moreover with the same mass of water suitably filtered and constantly returned into the washing circuit.

In the improved machine, the washing water which has-passed through the clothing to be washed is continuously or intermittently recycled and returned into the vat so as to execute a closed circuit circulation and said water is freed, through filtering, of the dirt carried by it from the clothing, means also being provided for heating said water.

The rinsing water may either circulate in a closed circuit or be constantly exhausted towards the outside.

Lastly the continuous character of the rotation allows wringing the washed and rinsed clothing, and its subsequent drying, which latter operation may be furthered through a circulation of air, heated if required.

The machine is constituted essentially by a perforated basket or cylindrical or truncated conical vat, positioned in a cylinder with a vertical axis. In the interior of this basket or vat there is a bag made of flexible cloth, attached to a framework integral with the said vat.

This vat is centered by a cover placed on a support integral with the cylinder, and it rests on a ball bearing.

The cover can turn about this support, traversed by an inlet water pipe, through the medium of a ball bearing.

The laundry is introduced between the vat and the bag, and the water, circulating for example by means of a centrifugal pump, is supplied to the interior of the bag by the central pipe traversing the cover.

The laundry is shown, Fig. 1, along the walls, the basket turning then at its highest speed and the feed water completely filling the bag.

This water expands the bag; the laundry piles up and mounts along the walls of the vat and of the-bag; the water passes through the cloth at the points of least resistance, but because of the impurities of the laundry entrained by the wash water, these points clog, the resistance increases and the points of passage across the cloth vary. If the pump slows up, the supply of water also slows up, the bag sags partially and the laundry drops down; there is thus produced an accordion movement, that is an alternating movement of the sack and a displacement of the laundry. If the pump again speeds up, inverse movement is produced: There is thus a permanent agitation of the laundry.

In accompanying drawing, I have shown diagrammatically by way of examples:

In Fig. l a form of execution of my improved machine according to the invention with a cylindrical vat.

In Fig. 2 another form of execution of the same machine wherein the rotary vat is frustoconical.

As apparent in the drawings the machine includes a Vat or basket I formed by a rotary cylinder carried by a vertical shaft 2 coupled with an electric motor 3. The upper part of the vat l is closed by a removable cover 4. The vertical walls of this vat are perforated and include consequently multiple ports forming a passage for the washing and rinsing water which is collected in the annular collector l5 forming a receiver bounded by the coaxial walls of the vat and of the cylinder 5, the former walls being perforated and the latter solid.

Inside the vat there is arranged, as a lining for its perforated walls, a fine meshed grid, not shown, which prevents the clothing from engaging the perforations in the wall.

The water accumulated inside 'the annular collector l6 fiows out through the pipe 8 provided with a drain cock 1. At the bottom of this pipe 8 is arranged a pump 8 adapted to deliver the water for a given position of the' three-way cock H into a filtering and distributing bag 12 inserted as will be described hereinafter inside the vat or basket I.

The part played by the filtering and distributing bag is an essential one: it is housed inside the basket i over a tubular framework ii, the upper end of which ends as a circle 12" inside which the end ll) of the pipe 8 enters freely.

This arrangement allows executing a suction pump effect between the opening of the bag and the ball bearing 6 through the middle of which passes said end ill of the pipe 8. At its lower end, the bag is secured to a grid I 3 suspended from said bag and the weight of which is sulficient for preventing said bag from passing above the clothing.

Under such conditions the water entering the bag with the substances required for washing is urged, by reason of the bellows or accordion movement to which the wall of the bag is submitted under the effect of the variations in pressure of water, to pass through variable resistance points which ensures a good distribution of said water through the clothing and prevents the bag from clogging.

When the cock II is rotated through 90", the distributor l2 communicates with a pipe feeding fresh water H.

In the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2 and including a frustoconical vat I, the cover 4 of the vat is provided with ports I5 for the passage of the washing and rinsing water which is collected in an annular collector or overflow trough l6. Inside said annular collector there is adapted to move a ring shaped system of blades I'I arranged at the periphery of the vat I, said vat forming thus the rotor of a centrifugal pump; this arrangement allows doing away with the pump provided in the case of Fig. 1. The lower part of the annular collector I6, is connected with a threeway cock 1 adapted in the position illustrated by the drawing to make this annular collector I6 communicate with a pipe 8.

When the cock 1 is-rotated through 90, the annular collector l6 communicates with the discharge pipe [8.

The remainder of the apparatus includes the same parts as those described and illustrated in Fig. 1.

In both cases the operation of the apparatus is as follows:

(a) Washing-after introducing the clothing to be washed together with water entering for instance through the pipe l4 and with cleaning substances, the motor 3 is started which carries along with it, as it rotates, the vat l with its movable cover 4 and the centrifugal pump 9 or the blades inside the annular collector It as in Fig. 2. During this movement the liquid passing through the clothing which is being washed escapes into the annular collector IE or through the annular collector l6 and is delivered through the pipe 8 and the cock H into the distributor II.

(b) For rinsing it is sufficient to rotate the plug of the cock so as to first drain the machine after which the plug of the cock I! is rotated in its turn through 90 for feeding the machine with fresh water. For sake of economizing water at the moment of rinsing, as is the case for the washing water, the rinsing water can be made to flow inside a closed circuit after returning the plugs of the cooks 1 and H into their original position illustrated in the drawings.

(0) Lastly for wringing and drying, it is sufficient after stopping the feed of water to the distributing bag 2 to open the cock I with a view to removing be furthered by blowing air, heated if required, provided to the distributor l2 and passing through the clothing enclosed in the vat 1.

Obviously, the examples of execution of my improved laundry machine as described with reference to the forms of execution illustrated in accompanying drawing by way of examples may be submitted to numerous modifications. Thus for instance the vat I may be designed so as to be capable of rotating at various suitable speeds such as 100 and 1500 R. P- M. for instance.

What I claim is:

1. A laundry machine for washing, wringing and drying clothing comprising a rinsing, vat

all the liquid. The drying may for clothing having substantially the shape of a surface of revolution with a vertical axis, means for continuously rotating said vat in a single direction, a tubular framework vertically fixed in said vat, a flexible filter bag in said vat having a smaller end and a larger end, said smaller end being above said larger end and secured to said tubular framework, a weighted grid secured to said larger end of said filter bag, means for circulating water through said vat and said bag in a closed circuit at a fluctuating pressure to impart an accordion movement to said filtering bag, and means for emptying said circuit and for feeding same with water whereby upon passing water through said filter in said vat the clothing therein will be cleansed by both passag of water and said accordion movement.

2. A laundry machine for washing, rinsing, wringing and drying clothing comprising a vat for the clothing having substantially the shape of a surface or revolution with a vertical axis, means for continuously rotating said vat in a single direction, a tubular framework vertically fixed in said vat, a flexible filter bag in said vat having a smaller end and a larger end, said smaller end being above said larger end and secured to said tubular framework, a weighted grid secured to said larger end of said filter bag, means for circulating water through said vat and said bag in a closed circuit at a fluctuating pressure to impart an accordion movement to said filtering bag, a ring shaped collector formed at the outlet of the vat and forming a part of the water circuit and means for emptying said circuit and for feeding same with fresh water whereby upon passing water through said filter in said vat the clothing therein will be cleansed by both passage of water and said accordion movement.

3. A laundry machine for washing, rinsing, wringing and drying clothing comprising a cylindrical perforated vat for the clothing having a vertical axis, means for continuously rotating said vat in a single direction, a tubular framework vertically fixed in said vat, a flexible filter bag in said vat having a smaller end and a larger end, said smaller end being above said larger end and secured to said tubular framework, a weighted grid secured to said larger end of said filter bag, means including a pump for circulating water through said vat and said bag in a closed circuit at a fluctuating pressure to impart an accordion movement to said filtering bag, a solid wall enclosing the outer perforated wall of the vat-and forming therewith a ring shaped collector through which the water issuing out of the vat returns into the circuit, and means for emptying said circuit and for feeding same with fresh water whereby upon passing water through said filter in said vat the clothing therein will be cleansed by both passage of water and said accordion movement.

4. A laundry machine for washing, rinsing, wringing and drying clothing comprising a frusto-conical vat adapted to contain the clothing and having a vertical axis, means for continuously rotating said vat in a given direction, a flexible filtering bag carried inside said vat, a water feeding pipe opening inside the filtering bag, means for circulating water through said vat and said bag in a closed circuit at a fluctuating pressure to impart an accordion movement to said filtering bag, a ring shaped collector surrounding the larger diameter portion of the vat and communicating therewith through its inner periphery, a blade arrangement rigidly secured to the outside of the vat for moving the liquid in the collector and means whereby the lowerportion of the collector feeds the pipe and forms a closed circuit with said pipe, vat and collector, means for emptying said circuit and means for feeding same with fresh water.

5. A laundry machine for washing, rinsing, wringing. and drying clothing comprising'a vat for clothing having substantially the shape of a surface of revolution with a vertical axis, means for continuously rotating said vat in a single direction, a tubular framework vertically fixed in said vat, a flexible filter bag in said vat having a smaller end and a larger end, said smaller end being above said larger end and secured to said tubular framework, a weighted grid securedfto said larger end 01 said filter bag, means' for circulating' water through said vat and said bag'in a closed "circuit at a fluctuating pressure to impart an accordion movement to said filtering bag,

6 the external wall of said filter bag and the internal wall of said vat defining a washing space for said clothing, and means for emptying said circuit and for feeding the same with water, clothing in said machine being cleansed by both passage of water therethrough and by said accordion movement.

MARCEL BEUCLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 793,510 Cramer June 27, 1905 1,234,498 Seymour July 24, 1917 2,167,086 Page July 25, 1930 2,276,147 Birr Mar. 10, 1942 

